Wall construction



Sept. 15, 1959 Si; A. HUMF'HREY ET AL WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 21, 1955 5 INVENTORLS STANLEY A. HUMPHREY IRVING H. HUMPHREY www, SMJAW W United Sta1 :esg Patent vO WALL CONSTRUCTION Stanley A. Humphrey and Irving H. Humphrey, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application April 21, 1955, Serial No. 502,934

1 Claim. (Cl. 72--16) if; extending the full length of the section within 'the surface area exposed on the inside and forming a continuous interconnected dead air space around the entire perimeter of the building.

More specifically it is an object to provide a building wall construction made from a plurality of interlitted sections, each windowless section being constructed from a pair of spaced apart panels extending from the floor to the ceiling and joined at their upper and lolwer ends to provide a continuous air space extending substantially the full length of each section and extending the full width of each section with intertting means along each longitudinal edge of the sections to form a substantially sealed joint between adjoining sections.

These and other objects and advantages of our invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a typical wall section;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view looking out from the inside through a window portion of a wall;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken substantially along the line 343 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a typical wall section showing a corner construction; and

Fig, 5 is a fragmentary -vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawings we provide a building wall construction made entirely from a plurality of precast masonry sections having an interitted connection between adjacent edges of adjoining sections with each section 10 being formed in a pair of spaced apart masonry panels 10a respectively designated by the numerals 10a and 10b. The two panels 10a and 10b are in the form shown respectively joined only at their upper and lower ends by solid masonry connection portions 10c and 10d and said panels may be reinforced as illustrated by the reinforcing rods 11 extending therethrough. The panels 10a and 10b are as illustrated spaced apart throughout their entire widths to form an air space 12 extending between the joined portions 10c and 10a'.

Said joined portions 10c and 10d are of only suflcient depth to securely interconnect said panels and said panels are of suicient length to permit the lower edges of the ceiling joists to be disposed below the lower edge of the upper joining portion 10c. A plurality of ceiling joists 13 are illustrated and the relationship of the lo'wer edges of the joists 13 and the upper portion 10c is clearly shorwn in Fig. 5. The lower joining por-tion 10d is also of substantially less depth than the floor joists 14 best shown ICS in Fig. 3 so that the inside surface of an outside wall is always insulated by an air space between the two panels 10a and 10b.

Suitable means for interfitting the adjacent edges of the panels 10a and 10b may be provided such as the tongue and groove construction shown. Each panel 10a and 10b is provided lwith a groove 15 as shown and a tongue element 16 is formed along the other edge of each panel and is constructed to be respectively received in the groove of the adjoining panel. This tongue and groove construction between adjoining panels of each section provides a substantially sealed joint between each panel and thus produces an interconnected continuous dead air space between adjacent sections.

The groove 15 presents along one vertical edge of each of the sections the outer flanges 30 and 31 and the inner flanges 32 and 33, said inner flanges being joined along their upper and lower portions respectively by bridge pieces 34 and 35. Along the opposite vertical edge of the panels are formed the previously mentioned tongues 16 and at the upper and lower extremities thereof are provided the outwardly projecting nose members 36 which project into the notches N provided by virtue of the fact that the inner flanges 3'2 and 33 terminate short of the respective upper and lower ends with the bridge pieces 34 and 35 being offset in the manner shown such that the notches are open at the upper and lower ends of the sections.

the joist 13 .with the inner side edge 37 thereof being flush with the right side of the corresponding nose member 36, the width of such notches being slightly greater than or at least equal to the thickness of the joist 13 and the vertical height of such notches being equal to the width of the joist. Thus, the joists are supported on their sections at a point very close to and substantially coplanar with the bearing point between the two adjacent interlocked sections, that is, closely adjacent to and substantially coplanar 'with the bearing point between the corresponding nose member 36 and the associated bridge piece 34. At the same time, the jointing between the sec. tions is such as to permit relative movement therebetween, if necessary, and the joists are so situated relative to the sections that one side face thereof is coplanar with the joint between the sections.

The base of each section is somewhat thickened as illustrated and may be supported on a conventional sub-grade block wall designated as an entirety by the numeral 17 and best shown in Fig. l. The inner panel surface is set outwardly a substantial distance from the inner block surface as illustrated to provide a supporting ledge or seat for the lloor joists 14 thus positioning the upper edges of said iloor joists well above the lower end of the air space 12. The upper edge portions of the inner panels 10a may have any suitable means for supporting the ceiling joists 13 such as the recesses formed therein with the lower ends of said recesses being disposed at a lower elevation than the upper end of said air space 12 to position the bottom edge of the joist below the top of said air space. This, of course, could be accomplished by notching the end of the joist so that the lower edge would be disposed below the lower end of the seat formed by said recess. A plate 18 may, of course, be connected to the upper ends of the sections 10 forming the wall to positively interconnect the same. Suitable lag screws 19 or other means may be provided for this purpose.

The sections thus far described are referred to herein as being windowless sections, however, window sections must, of course, also be provided and Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate such sections. Top and bottom wall sections panels 23b' disposed at right angles to each other and spaced from said outer panelsV to form a continuous air space 23ttherebetween. Said section 23' provides the necessary interconnection between adjacent wall sections at the Corners so that a continuous air space is provided? around' the' entire perimeter of the building.

It will be seen that' we have provided a relatively simple yet highly ecient building wall construction which is particularly constructed to provide an air space eXtending continuously from' the top to the bottom of the wall section and continuously around the entire perimeter thereof with the entire inwardly exposed wall surface being insulated from the outer wall panel by an air space interposed therebetween and providing for a substantially sealed interconnecting joint' between the two wall' panels.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departingY from the scope of our invention which generally stated consists in the matter set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a wall construction, a pair of adjacent, precast wall sections, each of a height substantially equal to the full height of the wall and each including a pair of spaced'- apart panels joined together only along the upper and lower ends thereof to present dead air space throughout the Wall formed thereby, said panels being provided along their vertical edges at one side thereof with vertical grooves presenting inner and outer outstanding anges, Said inner anges terminating short of their respective 4. upper and lower ends of' said sections and there beingv a bridge piece joining such upper and lower ends of the inner anges presenting open notches, the opposite edges of said panels being provided with outwardly projecting tongues with the tongues of one section being received in the grooves of the other section, the upper and lower ends of said panels, at said opposite sides thereof, being provided with outwardly projecting nose members with such nose members of said one section projecting into said open notches of the other section, and a joist, said sections having one upper corner thereof adjacent said nose members notched inwardly to a depth coplanar with the near side of the corresponding nose member, of a width equal to the thickness of the joist and of a height equal to the depth of the joist to extend below the upper contines of the dead air space between said panels and opening on the upper side of the sections, one side face of said joist being coplanar with the exposed edge joint between the sections `andl receiving its support from the associated section adjacent the area of contact betweeny the nose member of the associated sections and the bridge piece of the adjacent section.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 786,884' Faulkner Apr. 11, 1905 1,392,402 Cottman Oct. 4, 1921 1,487,247 Lane Mar. 18, 1924 2,014,778 Pedersen Sept. 17, 1935 2,078,144 Kenan Apr. 20, 1937 2,157,271 Schmeller May 9, 1939 2,373,409 Myer Apr. 10, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 115,693 Germany of 1900 703.926 Great Britain Feb. 10.` 1954 

